Born in Nashville, Tennessee in 1946, Juan Logan has been making art since 1967, exploring the psychological and social impact of racism, social change, injustice, and ignorance. His imagery comes from the specialized iconography and rituals of African-American life in the rural South, reflecting his deeply rooted heritage. Logan’s message is that the human condition is shared, and that our mutual interconnectedness comes with a responsibilityto understand the consequences of our own exclusionary behavior. His work turns on both historical and linguistic codes; for example, he uses a morphing “Mammy” icon, a leitmotif of history, race, and gender, to confront the viewer in many works.

The pieces in this exhibition span the decade between 1996 and 2006. Each work’s shape, surface and materials engages the viewer in a search for meaning, as Logan alludes to the complex history of race and class in America. Drawings and a reliquary-shaped sculpture titled Belled Collar, for instance, some of the earliest work in this exhibition, look like abstracted portrait heads, but were inspired by the leather or metal collars with bells African-American slaves were forced to wear. Such collars identified them as the property of a certain master, while the bells’ sounds made the slaves easier to locate. The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue, with an essay by Kathy Curnow, Professor in Art History at Cleveland State University, Ohio.

Logan’s works have been featured in over 250 solo and group exhibitions in venues across the country including exhibitions at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Colorado; Chicago Cultural Center, Illinois; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania; and the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC. He has received numerous grants and fellowships, including the John Michael Kohler Arts Center- Arts/Industry Program (2003-2004); the North Carolina Arts Council (1991-1992, 2001-2002); the Lannan Foundation (1995); Phillip Morris Corporation (1996-1998); University of North Carolina (1999-2001); and the McColl Center for Visual Arts Residency (2000). His artwork is included in over 60 corporate and public collections, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Tennessee; the Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina; the Museum of African American Art, Los Angeles; the Tweed Museum of Art, Duluth, MN; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

After creating art for more than 30 years, Juan Logan returned to school at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, Maryland, where he earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1998. Subsequently, he began work as a postdoctoral fellow in the art department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1999-2001), where he is currently an Associate Professor of Studio Art. The Tweed Museum invites all members of the public to attend a lecture by Juan Logan on Tuesday, November 14, at 6:30pm at the museum. The lecture will be followed by an opening reception for the exhibition. These events are free and open to the public.